It is said that first impressions are often misleading and there can be few
more striking examples than the case of Arsène Wenger. Just ask Tony Adams,
the former captain and the man who was known as 'Mr Arsenal’.

Father figure: Arsène Wenger is like 'a dad' to many Arsenal players Photo: REUTERS

“At first,” Adams said, “I thought, 'What does this Frenchman know about football? He wears glasses and looks more like a schoolteacher. He’s not going to be as good as George [Graham]. Does he even speak English properly’?”

It is exactly 13 years since Wenger arrived at Highbury and, having already established himself as the most successful manager in Arsenal’s history, he on Thursday surpasses George Allison as the longest serving.

Adams, of course, had worried unnecessarily about Wenger’s knowledge of football and command of the English language, although his comparison with a schoolteacher was less questionable.

Indeed, as the players lined up to pay tribute to Wenger after Tuesday’s win against Olympiakos, some even described a paternal influence on their lives.

“In the team he is our dad because any time we do a little bit wrong he calls to speak to us,” Emmanuel Eboué said.

Gaël Clichy, who is among Wenger’s longest-serving players, added: “Father is a big word, I don’t know if he is a father but he gives a lot of confidence. You want to learn from him and give back the confidence because most of us, the players we are today, it is down to him. Thirteen years is incredible. It shows the class of the manager. We know it is important for the club to keep Arsène Wenger.”

It is a view shared by the board, with chairman Peter Hill-Wood having predicted this week that Wenger could go on for another decade. That would take him to 70 and, while Wenger is always coy about discussing the possibility of extending his contract (the current deal expires in 2011), his recent decision to turn down Real Madrid suggests that he intends to end his career with Arsenal.

“He doesn’t have a president buying players for him and telling him to coach them and also to pick the team,” Hill-Wood said. “He would tell us where to go if we ever suggested that — not that we ever would.”

Wenger has certainly transformed the club in his own image and, having been the catalyst for a wave of foreign managers, has also overseen a dramatic globalisation of the team. Against Olympiakos, Kieran Gibbs was the only Englishman in an 18-man squad.

Having guided so many careers from a young age, it is perhaps understandable that Wenger should fill a role that often goes beyond simply technical coaching. However, according to Clichy, the players actually see less of the sense of humour that is often evident in his exchanges with journalists.

“He is really professional and human,” he said, “if you need to talk with him, you know he will always be there but there is a barrier with making jokes with the players or not.”

Clichy also says that anger is used only selectively. “When you don’t play good, at half-time or the end of the game, of course we see him angry. Most of the time, he waits and talks face to face. He doesn’t like to talk in front of everyone. His philosophy is that you know you have made a mistake and it’s up to you to ask yourself the right question.

“The way he thinks football and life is a great thing. For some people, of course, it would be better to push the players more and get more angry but he has been here 13 years and you cannot say the way he manages the team is not good because he has done incredibly well.

“He has not changed at all, the passion he puts into the games and training. He is the first at the training ground and he is the last to leave. He’s always pushing for us to play this type of football.

“The only thing he says is, 'just play the way you play guys’. We know if we take game after game we will have a great season. He always kept faith in the young players and, of course, in the last few years we haven’t won anything.

“People talk bad about him but I think we have to think about what he has done for the club. Arsenal today is one of the best clubs in Europe. We have to realise that Arsenal is Arsenal because of him.”